Immersion lithography, in which a liquid, known as an immersion fluid, is inserted between the lens and the wafer, is used to define patterns on some advanced integrated circuits. Typical immersion photolithography processes use a stack of multiple layers of materials, including a bottom anti-reflection coating, commonly known as BARC, an optional second BARC layer, a photoresist layer, and a top coat which reduces reflections, and optionally reduces friction between the wafer and the immersion fluid during wafer movement and/or provides a barrier between the immersion liquid and the photoresist, sometimes called TARC (top anti-reflection coating). These layers are typically applied by spin coating, which produces an edge bead of layer material at the edge of the wafer. The edge bead is commonly removed prior to further photolithographic processing to reduce contamination from fragments of edge bead material that detach from the wafer edge and are distributed across the wafer and on the photolithographic processing equipment. Immersion lithographic processing exacerbates the problem because the immersion fluid picks up fragments of layer material as it passes over the wafer edge, causing pattern defects and particulate contamination. Thus, edge bead removal (EBR) processes must produce a well-defined edge of the layer stack with no extraneous layer material on the wafer. EBR processes are hampered by adhesion incompatibilities between top coat materials and BARC materials. Furthermore, repeated EBR processes can damage BARC layers, resulting in additional particulates.